1. Boston #3
Clem laughed loud, and long. “Oh,” she said, wiping her eyes, “I’d have given anything to see his face when you did that.”
“He looked like I kicked him in the ass,” said An, sailing out of the room.
“I’ll check on dinner. Jimmy will entertain you while I’m gone.
” He paused at the door and turned back, fixing Clem with a mock-severe look.
“The other rule of the house; no talking business unless it’s by appointment and even then, I disapprove. ” He waved and disappeared.
Jim laughed. “It was after Tom apologized to An and got used to his ways, that he began talking about you as more than his only child and sole heir, Clementine. He shared stories of your various escapades.”
“I’ve no doubt.”
An walked back in the door, swooped up his drink, and downed a large gulp, making Clem smile. “Charles insists he needs another twenty minutes before dinner is served. He won’t be rushed, temperamental.”
He shrugged. “We’ll have to amuse ourselves until then.” An leaned forward with both elbows on his knees, cradling his drink. “Tell us about yourself, Clem-entine.” He sipped, then winked. “And don’t leave out the good parts, if you know what I mean.”
“It’s Clem,” she laughed. “Don’t make me throw you out of your own house.” She laughed again when An nodded.
“With those muscles, you could,” he said with a grin, looking her up and down. “Go on, Clem.”
“Not a lot to tell. I’m twenty-three and named for my young, beautiful, accomplished mother who died in childbirth.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” said An.
“Don’t be. I never missed her. But after church every Sunday for the first fifteen years of my life I stood before a granite tombstone with my name inscribed upon it in silent penance, waiting while my father prayed and left flowers.
” She sipped her drink to keep her throat from closing.
“I imagined it was my grave, and I would feel trapped underground in a coffin, unable to get out. That always ended with me wondering about the state of decomposition of my mother’s body. ”
Clem sighed. “Every single Sunday morning he wept, and every single Sunday night I stayed awake as long as possible to avoid my nightmares. On my fifteen birthday I announced I was an atheist, and refused to attend church any longer.”
“I never thought about it, but people named for the dead stare at their own tombstones…” Jim shivered. “I don’t think that ever occurred to your father,” he said.
“No, I doubt it would. Except for that hour every Sunday, he was too busy building the Daily Journal to pay attention to anything else. I heard him explaining to my governess once that girls are a whole other animal, and he had no idea what to do with one. I remember thinking, “Ah, that explains it.” She laughed. “It didn’t, of course, but at least he paid for any lessons or tutoring I wanted.”
“That’s something. What did you want to learn as a child?” An’s kind eyes searched hers.
Clem finished her drink, set it down, and leaned back. “I enjoy sports, and learned to swim, ski, sail, fish, shoot, and ride horses, none of which he ever saw me do.” She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them. “Those kept me busy over school holidays, and I won a few awards.”
“Where did you go to college?” An shook his head and frowned when Jim elbowed him. “What?”
“Dad thought higher education was wasted on women.” Clem watched Jim refill his drink.
“He believed females of the species lack the ability to tell truth from opinion, fact from fiction, and are not trustworthy to run a business, or anything larger than a household. Which he made me do when I graduated from the Boston Finishing School for Young Ladies.”
Clem heard a discrete clearing of the throat.
“Ahem.”
Turning, she saw a very tall, slender man standing in the doorway, whisking an apron from around his waist. He did not look her in the eye, and she wondered how much he’d overheard.
“Dinner,” Charles announced, “is served.” He glanced her way, but his face gave nothing away.
Given the strange day, accepting company, and excellent whiskey, she decided she just didn’t care. For the first time in a long time, she spoke about her life without censoring herself.
Over a delicious meal, Clem regaled them with stories of her father trying to marry her off.
“He had me hostess several large affairs at our house, assuring me one of the young university students he invited would sweep me off my feet. None ever did. After each party he’d nag me to live up to his expectations of what a proper woman should be. ”
“Ouch,” said Jim. “That must have hurt.”
She couldn’t find the words to express the depth of pain those post-party lectures inflicted. Even a little support would have meant so much. Clem shrugged.
“I decided to earn his respect in his own language, under his own terms. I studied poetry at finishing school and won a few awards, and I’ve read everything he ever wrote, even papers he published before I learned to read.
Raised on ink and newsprint, I wrote articles to get his attention, stories of interest in the field I knew best, sports. ”
She sighed. “When I gave him the first, he set it aside ‘to read later, when I have time’ and never did. So, I sent the next ones off to other papers. At first I used my full name, Clementine Dennison, and received nothing but rejections. Then I sent the same articles to other newspapers using only my initials, C.L. Dennison, and they sold.” She shook her head.
An looked up, admiring dark eyes gleaming.
“That’s quite an accomplishment; most can’t do it.
I couldn’t. It must have been very gratifying to tell him.
” He offered a charming smile. “Your father always was a stubborn old fool, and I loved him very much. You remind me of him.” His eyes teased.
“Tell me, what did Tom say when you told him his competitors bought your work?”
Clem wiped her lips, then set her napkin on her lap. “His exact words were,” she paused and gazed at the ceiling, “A few students are coming for tea tomorrow. For God’s sake, wear something feminine and make sure there’s enough cake.”
An gasped, but neither man said anything.
Charles entered the silence, carrying a silver tray with three thick slices of chocolate cake for dessert. He began clearing away and serving.
As he set a plate of delicious-looking cake before An, the younger man started snickering. He tried to squelch the giggles, but couldn’t quite manage it. Squirts and spurts of mirth escaped around the hand he threw over his mouth.
Jim raised a bushy gray eyebrow, trying to maintain an attorney’s decorum. But as Charles placed a plate before him, An broke into open guffaws, and so did he. “I’m sorry, Clem,” he said, gesturing at the desserts. “The timing...” He shared a glance with An, and the two laughed even louder.
Clem looked at both of them, then smiled at Charles as he set the last piece before her. “It looks delicious, thank you.” With a nod of thanks, she misquoted Marie Antoinette, “Let them have their cake and eat it, too.”
“Indeed, sir, uh, ma’am…” Charles scanned her outfit and then her face. “Sir,” he decided with a nod before exiting with the dinner dishes.
“Another one who is discreet.” Clem nodded at Jim. “You know how to surround yourself with the right people.”
“It’s a skill I’ve cultivated for my own good.
” James Burdock, Esq., grinned. “You will, too.” He looked at An, who nodded.
“I speak for both of us, Clem. You’re welcome here anytime.
” He smiled at his lover across the table.
“I only keep legal secrets from An for his own good, and he knows nothing about you except what Tom told us during his visits.”
“But now you are our friend,” interrupted An.
“We understand the image you’re maintaining,” Jim grinned, “and will only use the words him, he, and his unless you tell us otherwise.”
“In our eyes, you’re a man as different from them as we are,” An nodded out the window, “just in a different different way.” He winked. “Live and let live, right?”
Clem didn’t expect the rush of tears in her eyes.
She faked a cough, grabbed her handkerchief, and wiped her eyes and mouth.
“For the last three years, except for Dad, no one else has ever known, guessed, or even wondered, and in a single day, four men have learned my secret.” She shook her head in wonder.
“And I don’t know how to feel about that, or any of the news you’ve given me today, Jim. ”
“You need familiar surroundings,” advised An, taking a bite of cake.
“Accept the news for what it is.” He shook his head at her.
“No, Jimmy didn’t tell me anything about your inheritance, it’s not my business.
But he did tell me you’re staying in a hotel, and I can tell you’re in shock.
That’s when you need familiar things around you.
Go home, Clem, and let the past help you sort out your present while you plan for your future. ”
She didn’t feel ready to face the emptiness of her childhood home, filled with memories of a lonely life, always full of adults telling her what to do, but no parents. She sighed and nodded. “Sound advice.” Going through her father’s things would help her figure everything out.
Except it hadn’t.